


To Escape, To Surrender

by Camfield



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-30
Updated: 2012-08-30
Packaged: 2017-11-13 04:21:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/499418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Camfield/pseuds/Camfield
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The humans ended it. Killed both leaders in one fell swoop before lying in to the opposing forces. Those who could still fly escaped, carrying as many comrades as they could, those who were left behind hid, scattered apart. Blaster got the message, the one transmission they got in before the humans somehow blocked all radio waves. You have one chance. Meet up and we’ll get you out, faction no issue. If you miss out… you’re here forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Escape, To Surrender

Entry - Prologue

 

Blaster was in a bad way. He was holding a plank of wood over his helm, trying to keep the moisture off, while creeping quietly further into the woods. It wouldn't do to crash here where the humans could find him so easily and he could already feel the buzzing of shorting circuits within his cranial unit.

 

His symbiotes were crowded around his feet, all their available sensors tuned to the max for trouble, and he felt a pang of longing for Ramhorn. His eldest symbiote had been offlined during the final battle and the hole situated in Blaster's spark would never truly be filled in completely. He was lucky that his other creations had sustained mostly minimal damage, much of which he had been able to fix by himself. Only Steeljaw was damaged into negative functionality, his whole sensor array and tracking system destroyed in such a way it would need complete replacement. For the leonine symbiote it was like moving blind, with only his optics to feed information to his processor, and he had become extremely twitchy because of it.

 

Eject and Rewind. They'd been his babies, his youngest creations, forced to grow up because of the war. He spared them a glance as they crept along, optics sorrowful at the hostile movements of Rewind and clinginess of Eject. The youngest by only a few breems, Eject had taken the battle and Ramhorn's death the worst. He was fully functional, but refused to talk and freaked out if he thought he was going to be left alone. He clung to his twin, literally, most of the time, or rode on Blaster's shoulder. His cassette dock was damaged and nothing short of breaking the jammed gears would give him access to that subspace pocket. It would leave too many of his internal systems exposed and open to the elements and short of an emergency it was better to keep it closed.

 

So Eject clung to Blaster or his twin, silent and shaking as he cast fearful looks around them. Rewind with a now permanent snarl twisting his faceplates, quick to anger and hard to calm down, and Steeljaw, twitchy and jumpy with his head swinging around constantly, trying to compensate for lost sensors.

 

He fought a sigh and pushed onward, resisting the urge to just sit down and give up. He had to push forward, if for nothing else than seeing his family rescued. His broken family. **His** tattered, broken family.

 

 

Chapter 1

  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

The battle was well underway, but it wasn't Decepticons vs. Autobots.

 

It was Cybertronians vs. Humans.

 

The humans had waited until Megatron attacked something, another power plant, and when the Autobots had responded mayhem broke loose.

 

There was gunfire, real metal bullets, not laser fire, and Megatron and Prime were shot down in the initial surprise attack. The humans had clearly planned this, and it showed. They were fluid, shooting down Autobot and Decepticon with no differentiation. One went down; they switched to the next target. Heavy artillery units trundled along and shot massive exploding shells into the bodies of the fallen, shattering the armor and ripping limbs from their bodies.

 

The Decepticons were first to turn their attack to the organics, but the initial run had weakened their numbers and more than that, their morale. They'd taken down Megatron AND the Prime in one fell swoop, something that hadn't happened in millennia while they were fighting. Confusion and fear reigned on the battlefield and even the upper command seemed at a loss as to what to do.

 

The Autobots retreated, unwilling to fire on the humans who had become their allies, but when they reached their base they found it in flames. There were bodies strewn through the corridors, some pleading for help while others were terrifyingly silent.

 

Bluestreak, the young Autobot sniper, was keening. His optics rolling in their casings and vocalizer running in a constant stutter of words even as he hauled the injured into the Aerialbot's hanger where Skyfire was waiting. The returning team hastened to help, everyone gathering what they could subspace in the way of supplies and Energon as Skyfire was loaded with the injured. Omega Supreme landed with a hurried crash to the sand, but had only thrown open his bay doors to collect the last of the Autobots when an artillery shell hit him dead on. Omega Supreme started and the Autobots left in the Ark scattered.

 

::GO OMEGA! We'll hide out until someone can get us, GO!::

 

A whining crunch signified the bay door closing poorly, but Omega Supreme lifted off and shot away, Skyfire on his thrusters, the remaining Aerialbots running guard and shooting down missiles that trailed and dogged them. The bots ran, some back into the Ark for more supplies and the back door, some straight out into the desert to outrun the slower terran vehicles. Blaster stumbled and clutched his chest, the pain of Ramhorn's death still stingingly fresh, when a blue arm caught his own red one. He glanced up at the bot to find Tracks pulling him into a semi open area and transforming.

 

::Come on Blaster! I don't know how much time we have before they find us, get in!::

 

Blaster triggered his own sequence and was vaulted into Tracks cab just as the flyer took off in the same direction Omega and Skyfire had. They bypassed the Ark, Tracks snaking around that portion of the desert and were fairly high up when a group of human controlled jets blipped onto Blaster's radar.

 

::We've got a bunch of 'em coming up quick, can you get us higher?::

 

Tracks' engine whined and grated as he struggled to push it past what it could take. He'd taken damage during the fight, not enough to knock him out, but enough so that he wasn't getting up to speed as quickly as they needed. Blaster monitored the jets even as they swooped in, missiles deploying and streaking through the air. Tracks swerved though the air, shooting out one shell after another.

 

He put on a burst of speed, exhaust backfiring from the strain, and shot forward just as one of the missiles hit his bumper and tore part of it off. Tracks shook and strained, trying to keep himself in the air, his comm line a mess of static. Blaster had no way to anchor himself to the seat and was thrown back and forth inside the cab, smacking into the windows and dash hard.

 

Tracks suddenly faltered, his engine dropping out for a klick before he forced it back on and _shuddered_ , Blaster was knocked against the window again, the corner of his alt mode hitting first, and it shattered, a cry of pain coming from the Corvette even as a seatbelt shot out to wrap around the boom box.

 

There was too much going on and Tracks lost his concentration for an instant as he dodged another shell, Blaster slipping and transforming in an instant, his helm colliding Tracks bumper with a loud smack as he tried to find a handhold to grasp. His processor blacked out for just a klick, but when he came back online it was to Tracks swerving through the air, trying to get back down to catch him, the human jets pushing him back even as his friend called his name.

 

::Blaster!::

 

Blaster fell through the air, resigning himself to a hard crash, and had to focus hard to send back a message through his static laden systems.

 

::Go mech! I'll hide, try to find the others, don't you let them shoot you down!::

 

With a curse the flyer wheeled away, sloping up through the atmosphere. Blaster shot sonar downward, trying to minimize damage and land in a decently clear area, to find that he was headed straight for a construction site.

 

A curse of his own and he angled his body to slant through the air, trying to steer away from the piles of metal pylons and concrete foundation. He had no access to medical supplies. Getting damaged was a life threatening possibility, one he didn't feel like toughing out at this point in the game.

 

Still, as he got closer to the ground there were painfully few options available. He could feel his cassette's fear through their bonds, terror coming from all sides as he measured the distance to the ground.

 

Fifty mechanometers.

 

Thirty five.

 

Twenty.

 

At fifteen he ejected his cassettes, flinging them skyward just as he hit the ground. His last coherent thought before blacking out an order that they get to safety.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

Blaster onlined to his body being dragged inch by agonizing inch over the ground.

 

His optics powered on, and he watched for a moment as Eject, Rewind and Steeljaw drug his body through what seemed to be fairly thick foliage.

 

A forest.

 

He'd landed near a forest. Must have been out for a while, considering the distance inward they seemed to be as well.

 

A root caught his damaged deck door and he grunted, the noise causing his cassettes to stop pulling and crowd around his helm, all of them talking at once until another pained noise from Blaster had Rewind shushing them. The black mini mech ran his hands over Blaster's helm, and he realized that there was a jagged hole in the metal there.

 

Gently pushing Rewind away, he struggled to get on his hands and knees, forcing his body to sit upright on his pedes despite the spinning of his gyros. His hand felt along the damaged area and he groaned at the size of the rift. He didn’t have anything for a patch, and nothing that would keep out moisture. That… could be deadly, especially if circuits started shorting out.

 

Still, there wasn't anything he could do about it right now.

 

He reached out for his creations, hands trembling as they came to fit into his lap together, arms winding around them in a desperate hug, one he wished he didn't have to put them down from. They clutched his arms, Eject keening softly, Rewind deathly silent, and Steeljaw shuddering from the shock of a still raw broken bond as well as the damage from the past battle.

 

"Promise you all I'll do my best to get you out of here and keep you safe."

 

They stayed like that, holding each other until rain started to drizzle down, Blaster stumbling to his feet and staggering forward deeper into the forest. He forced his broken deck door into the closed position, gears stripping and connections breaking or jamming as it finally fit into the more or less correct position. Engaging the inner locks that would keep it from popping back open, no matter how uncomfortable it felt, or however many warnings scrolled down his HUD. Each step only increasing the throbbing in his body and the static in his vision until he found a small cave he could jam his body into, falling into exhausted recharge the moment he hit the ground.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

The first thing he noticed after rebooting was that Rewind was snarling at someone, the second thing he noticed was that Eject still clung to him, whimpering softly. He onlined his optics to see an angry Rewind and twitchy Steeljaw pinning down Soundwave's own Turbocat cassette, Ravage.

 

His battle protocols cycled on in an instant, gun appearing out of subspace to train immediately on the quadruped. Optic shutters narrowed and his injuries became second thoughts as he moved forward in a flash, blaster held against Ravage's helm.

 

"Where is Soundwave?"

 

Not the first question he had, but more certainly the most important. If Soundwave wasn't injured, Ravage didn't seem to be too bad off, then that put him at a distinct advantage right from the start. Blaster would need to offline Ravage and book it, if he wanted a chance to get far enough away for a head start.

 

Ravage moved slowly, keeping one optic on Blaster, and offered a hardline cable. He glanced at the cable, than back to cassette, his glare met with a calm gaze.

 

A snarl, then his own hardline cable came out, viciously slamming in to Ravage's port and watching with a guilty bit of satisfaction at the barely there wince that he saw. Batting away the cassette's own cable and ruthlessly diving through her systems. Hacking her programs and coding as he went, collecting the data she pushed at him and forcing his way deeper until he felt her tremble in pain. Keeping herself admirably still and blank faced even as Blaster tore through her consciousness, something he peripherally grudgingly admired.

 

He locked her motor functions, ignoring the one wordless cry that escaped her control, and backed out, keeping them connected as he looked through the offered memories.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

_Ravage's head snapped around at Soundwave's grunt of pain, optics narrowing as Starscream ripped his facemask off with one swipe of his claws. Soundwave had a blaster out, but his shot went wild as an elbow crashed to the side of his visor, breaking it and the optic below in a burst of tempered glass and fluid. She bounded in with a roar of anger, throwing herself at Starscream. A shot came from behind and she was sent tumbling helm over pede to the ground. A snickering Skywarp flying low enough to grab her by the head as he flew by, dangling her below him to bounce and drag across the desert sand._

 

_Soundwave's remaining half a visor flashed a brilliant red, Buzzsaw swooping in with a limp and damaged Laserbeak clutched close to him. He focused his attention on Skywarp and there was a yelp before Ravage was dropped to crash on the ground, weaving as he clutched his helm but smirking as he strafed past. Soundwave spun to look back at Starscream to be hit at full speed, the Seeker hitting his leg in a way that snapped his knee joint, the whole thing buckling inward until it jammed, the leg bent completely the wrong way. A hand clamping down on his throat cables and lines, Energon and coolant flow slowing, clawtips jamming through the thinner plating to spear his vocal synthesizer and he stumbled backward. Starscream slamming his other fist into Soundwave's helm with a force that jarred his processor in its moorings and made him go limp for a few seconds. Ravage picked herself up, not bothering to resettle skewed plating before she lept at Starscream's back. Claws digging ruthlessly into his wings as she fastened her teeth to where his helm folded into his altmode. The hand loosening enough on Soundwave's throat for Energon to rush in a flood to his processor, his wavering focus snapping into clear view, meta sending shrieking waves of energy directly at Starscream._

 

_The jet fought, hand closing tight again and Soundwave pressed harder, unwilling to give up his one advantage. Sending pulses of telepathic pain, his own felt pain, and amplifying them within Starscream's own processor, barraging him with the damage he was causing the tape deck as well as his own until he felt thrusters fire up. Hands releasing him and the Seeker shooting up to join his trinemates._

 

_"Die on this planet Soundwave, die to the same filthy organics that killed your mighty Megatron!"_

 

_They cackled as they lifted away, leaving without a backward glance.  
_

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

_Ravage felt a flash of pain through their shared bond and turned, bounding toward where she could pinpoint her brothers. Mouth open as her vents heaved; pain exploding through their kin connection and making her stumble and hit the ground, shoulder first._

 

_It finally receded and she picked herself up to move again. Spotting Rumble leaning over Frenzy behind a sand dune, shouts ringing through the air._

 

_"Don't ya dare leave me! I'll fragging MAKE you stay, Primus ain't takin' you unless he takin' me too ya bastard! Ya AINT' LEAVIN' ME!"_

 

_He leaned over and Ravage reached them as light flashed. Both of their chest plates open, she realized, and spark to spark. Frenzy's death throes jerking him around and out of Rumble's reach again and again only to be pulled back. Vocalizer emitting a terrible high pitched squeal that suddenly, abruptly cut off. Blue frame clanking to the ground as the convulsions stopped and gray began to pull color from the metal._

 

_Rumble leaned back and Ravage caught the sight of his too engorged spark before it was hidden again, picking up his twin's frame to cradle it against his front._

 

_Human jets flew in a formation overhead and Ravage slunk to Rumble's side, nudging him and turning, wordlessly prodding him to follow her back to Soundwave._

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

_Soundwave moved with agonizing slowness, each step made with calculated precision and care. He was gradually, continuously, slowing. Not leaking Energon badly, that had been a field repair before they could even begin to move, but oil and coolant, even a bit of hydraulic fluid dripped at a slow but steady pace. Electric sparks that burst from his busted visor, from where it had connected to his helm, and his knee joint every time it had to hold his weight, however brief._

 

_Ravage could see the pede graying, slowly. The tip blotched with the remnants of color and she knew that eventually Soundwave would need help to even walk, especially if the metal began to rustrot. Earth had so much oxygen in the air that even the hardy Cybertronium that their bodies were made out of rusted far more quickly than they'd expected._

 

_Especially when it was dead metal._

_They were quickly reaching the point where Soundwave would have to rest. She could feel it though the creation bond they shared, as well as see the tightness of his lips, the flinches that now came every time he placed his injured leg down, no matter how slowly or softly. A hand reaching up ever so often, more and more as they went on, to clutch the side of his helm that had the shattered optic._

 

_When he finally allowed himself to stop, sitting down on the dirty floor of the forest they'd hidden in, she waited until he'd slipped into recharge and moved silently away. She'd smelt Blaster not too far off, with any luck, because Primus knew how much Blaster hated her creator, he would be too altruistic to let them die here. Not sympathetic, they'd been enemies too long for that, but Ravage prayed for the slightest amount of pity. Anything that would help them survive._

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

Blaster shuttered his optics, venting in a huff. With Ravage's memory files came her desperation, her worry for Soundwave. He wasn't at war with the few remaining Decepticons, he couldn't be, not right now, but letting go of millions of vorn worth of hate, especially in a decision that would have taken out the enemy second in command...

 

Except, he was no longer the enemy second in command. No longer in control of a powerful army. He was badly injured, life threateningly so if he couldn't get even the barest of treatment, and was two cassettes down at least, who knew if Rumble or Buzzsaw were injured, none of the memory files had focused on them. Starscream had betrayed him, however little of a surprise that was, it was still fact. If Starscream was in charge of what remained of the enemy, then Soundwave had no place in the remaining Decepticon Armada.

 

Worse off than Blaster, because he was truly alone. If he didn't get help, he'd suffer and die on Earth with his symbiotes.

 

His children.

 

Eject was still clinging to his helm. Silent, but shaking, and pressed as close as he could be to Blaster. Steeljaw not taking his optics off Ravage, but his joints and plating twitching and jumping at each minute noise, every movement that he couldn't see. Rewind with his blaster muzzle pressed up against the Turbocat's side, right in line with her powerplant, movements so much more aggressive than they'd been even days before.

 

There was much to answer for, but it was not to him that they would answer. He had taken an oath in joining the Autobots, and had believed in Optimus Prime's vision wholesparkedly. Worked tirelessly toward the goal of true equality and fighting for his side for millennia. A race that had been around less than his youngest symbiote wasn't about to run his ideals down and change what he believed in.

 

A second chance, Optimus had always believed in the opportunity for change. Had always believed in the opportunity to be greater than the sum of one's parts. They'd had former Decepticons in their ranks, and had always offered sanctuary for those who'd asked, this was no different. No matter the situation, no matter the circumstances.

 

His helm dropped, and over their connection he felt Ravage plead, in her wordless way. Begging for his help. Her optics fully trained on him, even though her motor functions were still locked, and tendrils of resignation winding through her consciousness as his helm stayed bowed, as he didn't answer her.

 

"I'll help."

 

Every one of his symbiotes voiced their outrage, Rewind sputtering at Blaster's announcement, Eject shaking his helm against Blaster's own, Steeljaw's denta clicking in distress.

 

"I will not forget what Optimus Prime stood for. What I as a part of the Autobot faction stood for."

 

He sent the command over their link to release her joints and felt an outpouring of gratitude. The panther creeping forward to bow her helm at his pede, sending the ancient glyphs of subservience and thanks as she touched her muzzle to each pede tip. Pledging him her protection, in any way she could give it and Blaster responded the same. Bending on one knee to touch her helm lightly, the formal glyphs of acceptance broadcasting to the tiny party.

 

Blaster stayed on his knee, hardline uncoupling and zinging back to settle in its compartment just underneath his shoulder. Interface panel creaking closed and latching with a snickt.

 

"Take us to Soundwave."

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter 2

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Soundwave was hunched on the ground when Ravage finally led Blaster into the tiny hidden area. Rumble shaking his arm with frantic movements, voice whisper loud in the otherwise silent space. He looked up when Ravage came through and let out a bellow of rage when he caught sight of Blaster, launching himself forward with arms flying through their transformation into his piledrivers.

 

A squawk from Buzzsaw and Blaster watched the flyer ram Rumble mid dive, knocking him aside before tumbling to the ground as well, sparks erupting from his helm. Ravage jumping to Buzzsaw's side, using her head and paws to awkwardly straighten him out on the ground. Blaster stepped forward, Ravage moving over as the red cassette mech finished laying Buzzsaw flat, running his own limited version of a medical scan over the small body.

 

The results weren't great, but they weren't fatal either. A short in at least one of the connecting cranial circuits, welds that were barely holding the central system in place, Blaster attributed that to the move he'd just pulled, and a badly bent wing joint. One that he was surprised had even allowed Buzzsaw to fly, let alone with any kind of accuracy.

 

Still with Buzzsaw at least functional and not in immediate danger he moved on to Soundwave, ignoring Ravage pinning Rumble to the ground and hauling Soundwave around to lay on the ground as well. Scans running blue before the other cassette mech was even fully flat.

 

A curse and Blaster began emptying his meager subspace supplies. Laying his medikit out and pulling an Energon line splicer, pushing one of the needled ends into the emergency port valve in his arm and hooking the other end to Soundwave, grunting as the line began immediately transferring Energon. Picking through his tiny selection of line clamps and starting in on repairs, not sparing a glance toward his own or Soundwave's cassettes while he worked.

 

Ravage had let Rumble up, the mini mech snarling and spitting vitriol at his sister creation. Gesturing wildly at both Blaster and his symbiotes, who had parked themselves at the edge of the clearing on his order.

 

"An' who th' frag asked 'em to be here?! You think Boss is gonna like it? Not one bit!"

 

Steeljaw and the twins watched as Ravage just stared at Rumble, obviously communicating over their bond, his body language becoming more and more agitated by the moment until he broke and started pacing. Clearly unhappy with whatever she had communicated, but also seemingly less likely to attack if Ravage's sudden move away from him was any indication. She lay beside Buzzsaw, her nasal sensor pressed against his chest cavity, and a low vibrating sound rolled out of her. Optics shuttering and her tail wrapping itself around her prone body.

 

Steeljaw stared, or he tried. Every few seconds he would look around, turn in a complete circle and visually scan both ground and sky, mane sensors twitching as they strained to catch something, anything to send to his processor. Still, after each circuit his gaze returned to the other turbocat, a stuttered version of her rumble stopping and starting in his vocal components in sympathy.

 

Rewind had a hold on Eject; the latter curled into his side. Distrustful optics going from Ravage to Rumble and back, every now and then at Blaster and Soundwave, and clutching his twin with one hand, his blaster with the other. He'd shoot first and apologize later if it came to that. He refused to lose anyone else he cared about.

 

Blaster sat back on his heel, pulling the Energon line out of their medical valves and curling it up. Passing the needles through the flame on his torch in a crude form of sterilization before replacing it back in the medikit. His clamps were gone, and had been nowhere near enough to stop all the leaks, but he'd used them on the larger tears and slices and used his torch to cauterize any others that he could. The rubber like material melting over itself and the nicks to form a weak, but better than nothing, seal to the lines. It wasn't a pretty form of repair, and hurt like no other because getting the torch to the damaged areas also passed it next to neural lines. The heat inevitably damaging, potentially permanently, the wiring there. Heating them enough, depending on how close the torch was, to melt it against something else, scorch the sensors or even burn right through it. There hadn't been a choice though, and Blaster had given his word to help. This was the best he could do right now.

 

Still, with at least enough Energon in him to boot his systems, and most of the visible leaks sealed off, Blaster turned his attention to why the other cassette deck wasn't coming back online.

 

Meta patterns registered as normal recharge, so he wasn't in stasis. The throat cabling and tubing was kinked, but that shouldn't prevent a reboot. Blaster still straightened them out as best as he could, digging a bit to see if there was something that wasn't visible that was possibly-

 

Ah. Some sort of strangely shaped metal piece; crimping the main neural feed from body to processor, making Soundwave's processor think that he'd initiated his recharge program from the minimal amount streaming through. It wasn’t attached very well, probably from Starscream's attack, so it came out with only a few twists and tugs, Blaster carefully threading it through the rest of the neck wires and cables to lay it beside the telepath's helm. A glance didn't reveal what it was, because he didn't recognize it at all, and neither did a slightly more in depth investigation. It obviously had clipped into something in Soundwave's neck, but it was just as obviously homemade. No maker's mark or factory stamp that he could find. He placed it back aside, arms crossing over his deck door to look at Soundwave.

 

The edges of his busted visor and optic still sparked intermittently, but he would really need to ask Soundwave what he wanted to do about that. It wasn't life threatening at the moment, and there was always a chance that self-repair could partially fix the optic. At this point it was the best option he had, and without knowing what mods the visor provided, he didn't want to mess with what could potentially be something super important. Best to leave it and move on.

 

The mouthguard had been ripped off; he knew that from Ravage's memory files, but seeing it up close sent chills through his tank. The metal jagged and razor sharp, Energon still seeping from where it had been housed in his helm, something Blaster really hoped self repair would take care of. He didn't want to have to do surgery, no matter how minor, to stop that leak. If it kept leaking though, it could be a sign that something internally was damaged badly, and his scans weren't in depth enough to know anything for sure.

 

His deck door seemed undamaged, and he sincerely hoped that it was. The ability to dock their symbiote creations was essential for both bond harmony as well as doing minor maintenance on their systems and keeping them safe. It bothered him, a tremendous amount, that he couldn't dock his own. Perhaps Soundwave would be able to dock his creations, even for a little while, just to run them through the full defrag...

 

Wishful thinking and not something Blaster needed to dwell on right now.

 

His torso looked beat up, but not damaged other than superficially, and his good leg looked just that, good. There hadn't even been many leaks, something that had surprised him, and had been easily sealed with his torch.

 

Soundwave's injured leg though, was an entirely different story. What he'd seen secondhand from Ravage had seemed bad, but looking at it now Blaster couldn't believe that Soundwave had even been able to walk on it, let alone walk the distance that he had. The whole pede was gray, a very bad sign, and he could hear hydraulics misfiring and tension cables cracking from being stretched tight for much too long. The shin plating crumpled, torn off in places and he could see already that there was a large amount of dirt and debris smeared over the internals. Main strut bent, secondary struts cracked, hydraulics broken, one piston completely out of its housing, the other pressurizing and firing intermittently. He had no way to even begin repairs, not with his clamps gone and solder at emergency only levels. He had a roll of duct tape, courtesy of a prank never played, and if he could find a length of metal he might be able to splint the strut, but...

 

Blaster moved in closer, examining the knee joint. He'd gone over Soundwave once, but that had been just looking for leaking lines, minor repair work. This… It was a mess. The joint was completely bent backward, in a way that wasn't broken, but jammed in that position by both his own armor and broken internals. The intense heat of shorting circuits and close contact with a lit thruster had melded the whole thing into a giant mass, one that would have to be cut off. Parts of thigh plating, the remains of shin plating, crushed into what had been a working joint and melted, keeping the overtaxed cables and hinge from going back into proper position. It would be easier to cut the cables and break the melded mass, then weld it together straight.

 

Actually, that would be the perfect way to go. Blaster turned to ask Ravage a question and gave a yelp of surprise when he was knocked over with a push. A blurb of static crackling loudly through the air as he caught himself just before hitting the ground. Turning back with an annoyed look to crouch, optics wary as he watched Soundwave.

 

"Hey mech! Calm down, I was just trying to help you!"

 

Soundwave's expression was clearly hostile, pinched with pain and suspicion, and Rumble scrambled over to stand in front of him. Snarling at both Ravage and Blaster as he placed himself between Soundwave and everyone else.

 

The former second in command opened his mouth to speak, but only static came out. He stopped, expression turning confused, then directed something at Rumble, static once again taking place of what should have been words. Hands coming up to grasp at his neck, fingers probing through the tubing to find what he was looking for gone and harsh spats of static rang out as he gestured at Blaster. Pointing at his neck, his helm and his symbiotes. His mouth twisted in what Blaster recognized as panic and he wondered if something was wrong with Soundwave's comm system.

 

He held up his hands placatingly, slowly reaching down to pick up the piece of mangled hardware and hand it over. Rumble snatching it out of his hand and placing it into Soundwave's own, body language even more hostile then it had been when he'd first come into the copse and Blaster narrowed his optics. His own growl barely kept in check as he sat back, arms draped over his knees and watched.

 

Soundwave turned the metal over and over in his hands, distressed blats of static still coming from his mouth. He lifted the component to the good side of his visor, turning it back and forth, fingers brushing over crushed connections and bent metal until shaking fingers carefully stowed it in his subspace, exchanging it with a different piece that he warily held out to Blaster.

 

Rumble scrambled to grab it, but was held back by a firm hand, the piece offered more insistently. Blaster took it and Soundwave pointed at his neck, miming as if he was screwing it into place, placing his palm out in a gesture of pleading, supplication.

 

Blaster heaved a deep vent, but levered himself to his knees and moved forward again to rest in front of Soundwave, the tape deck sitting back against the tree Blaster had found him against and leaning his head back. Rumble snarled again, but settled against Soundwave and crossed his arms, watching every movement Blaster made with sharp optics. He gathered his scattered medikit, taking care to brush off as much of the organic material as possible before returning it to the case. Attaching a small screwdriver bit to the fitting at the end of his index finger and peering again into the cabling of Soundwave's neck.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

Soundwave kept himself carefully still as Blaster worked, the occasional grunt of frustration coming from the rust red mech, and scrolled through the damage reports on his remaining half-a-visor HUD. It... wasn't good. He'd already ascertained that his comms were out, though he didn't yet know why, and that his left leg was damaged and inoperable with the supplies and mecha available. Mecha available. Soundwave would have snorted if he'd been able. That made it sound like there were more than him and Blaster and their creations even around, and while he trusted his symbiotes with his life, HAD trusted them with his life, none of them were capable of more than dragging him should he fall. They knew basic first aid, being spies they were alone often, and knowing how to repair themselves was critical until they could get back to base and Soundwave, but it was just that, basic. Stopping leaks, patching holes, stripping and capping damaged wiring, that was it. Soundwave did all their repairs, but he would need much more in the way of supplies than he had, and it looked like Blaster had already used most of his supplies, probably on him with as much damage as he'd taken.

 

He held back a flinch as Blaster accidentally pinched one of his neural lines between screw and housing, and to his credit he noticed right away that something was resisting. Murmuring an apology as he readjusted the wire and finished screwing the new component into place.

 

Not being able to speak was... more than unnerving. This was one of his oldest working modulators, one he had made himself before their community had been destroyed and he'd joined the Decepticons. It constantly glitched, one of the reasons he'd replaced it, but it was better than nothing, and until he could ascertain why his comm system was registering as unresponsive and why he was unable to focus enough attention to use his telepathy it was the best he had.

 

Blaster moved back again, setting again on the heels of his pedes. "You alright then?" Hand close to where his blaster was holstered just in case.

 

Soundwave noticed, but ignored the movement. He had no interest in alienating the only available Cybertronian around capable of helping him survive. Cocking his head, Soundwave rebooted the newly installed synthesizer and grimaced at the amount of repair that it needed. Code was going haywire as it struggled to adapt to updated firewalls and components installed long after it had been removed. The whole thing even more obsolete then he'd originally thought, prompting the concerned thought that it might not actually work.

 

Another blat of static, but it sounded vaguely like what he'd been trying to say, so he focused inward once more and redid the settings, trying to compensate for other mods that were trying to compensate for the modulator.

 

"...kssssssht-nk yo-ksssht"

 

A frustrated twist of his mouth and he reset it again. There would always be a bit of static in the background, and the glitch that sometimes dropped the endings of his words, but...

 

"Thannnnnn-khsssst-k you."

 

Blaster gave an unreadable look, but stood up and offered his hand to Soundwave, helping the other cassette mech to his feet.

 

"The place we found is a little more hidden. I got a deal with Ravage, so long as you all keep your peace we will as well."

 

Abruptly he turned and picked up Laserbeak carefully, ignoring the cry of outrage from Rumble, before motioning with his helm, leaving Ravage, Rumble and Soundwave to follow, his own cassettes disappearing after him quietly.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

Twincast ambled down the street, waving to his friends and neighbors. The care center that his symbiotes stayed at was only a short distance from where he worked at the Communications Hub in outer Kaon. It made it easy to slip them in and out each work rotation without too much hassle, but then, that was why he lived in this Deck community in the first place.

 

He rubbed his deck door, trying to soothe his aching spark as he walked. His spark was getting ready to split again, and he'd have to find a donor to add the needed coding fairly soo, or it would be reabsorbed and he'd have to wait another few vorn for his next chance.

 

Giving his chest a shake to resettle the shifting components, Twincast reached the care center. He cheerfully greeted the mech in charge and collected his symbiotes, smiling at their eager chatter.

 

"And then Galewing smashed Ramhorn into the wall, but he was soo good! Didn't even try to fight back this time!" Ripsaw crowed excitedly, his talon tipped pedes shuffling back and forth over Twincast's main shoulder strut. "The matron even gave him an extra Energon goodie for being so calm!"

 

Twincast made an impressed face, leaning over to pat Ramhorn, and moved to herd them out of the care center. The door slid open as they reached it and he nearly crashed face first into another deck mech.

 

"Sorry mech! The bits are a little more excited than normal today, you alright?" Twincast moved to steady the other mech.

 

The other mech nodded to Twincast, "No harm was done," Before moving past him to the counter.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

They reached the small cave just as rain started pouring out of the sky, Blaster ducking into the relative dryness with a vent of relief that didn't escape Soundwave's notice, even as he carefully settled himself on the floor, legs outstretched.

 

"Blaster: Injured?" Soundwave talked slowly, minimalizing the amount of static that tried to cut off his words.

 

Blaster gave him a guarded look. "Took a blow to the helm. I'm trying to keep moisture out of my cranial kit."

 

Soundwave beckoned him over, but found himself with a face full of angry minimech.

 

"Keep your hands off him, Creeper!" Rewind, the black cassette was growling in a way that reminded him of Ravage. Trigger finger already twitching against his blaster as he placed himself between the two deck mechs.

 

Rumble jumped in front of the muzzle, arms already in piledriver form. "Just try somethin'! I'll knock ya helm off so fast ain't no one gonna be able ta find it!"

 

Thoroughly annoyed, Soundwave picked up Rumble and moved him aside.

 

"Injury: Important to see. Possibility: Soundwave can repair."

 

"Rewind, move." Blaster gave Soundwave another guarded look. "I knew you once, as an honorable mech. You told me that you had reasons for joining Megatron, and so I'll tell you this now. I'm here because I believe in what Optimus Prime was selling. Freedom and equality for all creatures."

 

This wasn't anything Soundwave hadn't heard before. The propaganda had flown heavily during the first part of the war, when recruiting made PR necessary, and both sides had shot off ads rallying mecha to their cause.

 

"He also believed in change, and second chances. That everyone was worthy of earning trust even when they didn't deserve it." Blaster's optics were hooded, and Soundwave automatically tried to reach out with his telepathy, holding back a cringe when a dozen errors popped up because of it.

 

"Ravage pledged me her protection, against even you." Soundwave started, looking to his eldest symbiote in askance and getting a feeling of determination and guilt through their link. "I'm betting on her life that you'll keep this peace up, and I hope there is enough of the mech I once knew for that not to be my mistake."

 

"Soundwave: Has no intention of-"

 

"I'm just letting you know."

 

Soundwave nodded, and Blaster moved to sit in front of him. Angling his helm down so that Soundwave could see a badly welded patch in optic view. It would have been easier for him to lie down, but both of them acknowledged that that wasn't going to happen, not with as leery as Blaster still was.

 

Rewind took out his laser cutter and sliced the metal off carefully, keeping close to Blaster's helm once it was off. Soundwave peered into the rift, activating a small focused beam of light off his good half of the visor to look more carefully at the processor and connections inside.

 

It wasn't bad, not technically fatal as it was, but if water got inside it would quickly turn into a different story. "Injury: Needs cleaning. Organic Matter: Detrimental to delicate components." The dirt really needed to be taken out before he welded the metal back on.

 

Steeljaw and Eject were crowded in between Blaster's feet, the turbocat a bit less twitchy when he was in contact with his creator, and Eject moved forward to take something that the red mech had pulled out of subspace. Handing it to Rewind, who reluctantly handed it over to Soundwave.

 

A canister of compressed air? Soundwave held the small can carefully, mindful of the tiny amount of pressure that would crush it in his hand. "I don't happen to have a vacuum, and unless you have something tucked away in that subspace of yours, this is as good as it gets."

 

"Item: Sufficient for one use. Recommended: For maximum efficiency, changing positions is needed."

 

Blaster stood up and turned, cocking his head again towards the navy mech. Soundwave hesitated, trying to put his words some way that didn't seem...

 

"Something wrong?" There was an edge in his voice, and Soundwave quickly shook his helm, mouth opening and closing. Blaster pulling back to see a... was that a flustered look on Soundwave's face?

 

"Change of position: Needed-"

 

"Mech, just spit out what you want me to do."

 

Soundwave straightened up, look gone so completely that Blaster could have sworn he'd imagined it.

 

"Preferred position: Upside-down. Maximum efficiency: Gained from air can."

 

A bark of laughter, but Blaster hefted himself to his pedes and bent over at the waist in front of the other deck mech. Debris falling out even just from that movement alone and holding back a shudder as compressed air shot out at his internal components. Soundwave taking his time to handle the depressor with the correct amount of force and loosen and blow out as much of the organic matter as possible. The whole process lasting well into an hour before the can proclaimed itself empty. Soundwave stilling Blaster and taking out his own welding torch, hand out for the patch. Rewind balked, but handed it over.

 

He made sure it was painstakingly done, a repayment of sorts for his own repairs. Smoothing out the rough metal and tapering the patch to fit more comfortably against the red mech's helm. When the last bit of solder was welded on he tapped Blaster's shoulder, letting the other know he was done.

 

Rewind examined the patch, but he'd watched Soundwave do the whole thing, from start to finish. A hand came up and felt along the much smoother edge, tiny dots the only thing delineating the line between Cybertronium and Earth metal. Blaster standing back up straight and shaking the minute kinks out of his cables.

 

"Thanks."

 

The red tape deck moved back over to the other side of the tiny space and sat down; drawing his creations to his chest in the best facsimile he could of docking them. Watching as Soundwave awkwardly did the same, trying to keep them off of his damaged leg. A nod passing between them before they turned their attention to their symbiotes, Blaster letting them feel the soothing, steady pulse of his spark as he shut down into recharge.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

When the attack started, Twincast was just getting ready to initiate recharge.

 

It started as a rumble, distant vibrations that he passed off as his processor suspending most of his external programs, and he ignored it, settling more comfortably on the berth.

 

Then something hit close by, something heavy, and he heard screaming right before his world exploded. The walls of his apartment shattering as if they'd been made of crystal, not the heavy duty soundproof amalgam that they were. Shrapnel and debris landing everywhere, embedding into the floor, the ceiling and walls, and Twincast tumbled from the berth to land hard on the floor. Scrambling to his feet and running in to where his cassettes docked in an external booth and pressing the eject button almost furiously. Willing it to move quicker as it booted the cassettes out of recharge and shot them out one by one until Twincast had them all safe in his chest subspace dock. Ignoring their queries through the creation bond, focusing on getting out of the building before it collapsed.

 

He stumbled outside, looking to the sky as fliers roared past. Dropping their torpedoes with terrifying accuracy and cackling at the carnage they wrought.

 

All around him mechs were screaming, some trapped beneath the rubble, some already graying in the streets, whole halves of their bodies missing, pieces of carrier and symbiote alike spread over the ground. Twincast pressed a hand to his deck door, thanking Primus he'd been able to keep his creations safe, looking around for someplace, anyplace, to hide.

 

Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The Seekers raising a war cry and zooming back the way they'd come, leaving behind a wealth of destruction and mecha crying out in confusion.

 

Twincast wasted no time in digging through the rubble, trying to find anymech still alive. Ejecting his symbiotes to help with his frantic efforts, dragging mech after mech into the relatively clear road until his hydraulics would no longer pressurize properly. Until his optics were surging and glitching, lack of energon and too high energy expenditure making his pedesteps heavy and his processor slow.

 

He stumbled over a bit of debris and fell hard, clanking to the ground. Rolling over to see that it was pede, and dragging himself up to haul each bit away with agonizing slowness. Uncovering the mech bit by bit until he recognized the other as the same he'd nearly run into earlier in the cycle, giving him a weak grin when dust covered mech sat up slowly.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

When Blaster jolted online not half a joor later, it was to a message that filled him with hope.

 

"Attention Cybertronians still on planet Earth. We will be making one pick up attempt one Earth month from now. If you do not make the rendezvous, we will not be back for an unknown period of time. There are currently sixteen traceable sparks left, and we sincerely hope that each and every one makes it for pick up. Stay safe and good luck.

 

The message was accompanied with a static map and marked coordinates, a blessing for Blaster.

 

He had immediately left to sneak closer to the city. Piggybacking his wireless signal off of an unprotected router in order to sync up map coordinates and GPS. He didn't know if he would have the ability to check a second time, so he made sure to copy the map into his memory files. A relatively straight line from where they were to the pick up.

 

It would be close. With them having to stop at least part of each day in order to make Energon, and the reality that Soundwave could move no faster than a human, it was very much a possibility that it would take them the whole month to get there. Blaster could assume nothing, and since his symbiotes couldn't dock, they were open to attack even more than he was. Not for the first time he wondered if Soundwave would allow them to dock, wistful overtones over the improbibility of the thought.

 

Skirting back to the cave, he noticed that Rumble was outside, sitting by himself a little way away.

 

His optics narrowed, but he left the cassette alone. He didn't look like he was doing anything that warranted attention, and Blaster had bigger things to worry about right now. Ducking into the opening, he sat back down on the floor, sparing a quick glance over to where Soundwave was repairing Buzzsaw. It had been clear when he was cleaning out Blaster's cranial armor that he wasn't particularily stable. His hands were shaking, probably because of the processor damage he had to have, and bursts of static had come from him, even when he wasn't talking. The work Soundwave was trying to do wasn't technically hard, but it was precise and Blaster could see aborted movements again and again as he tried to keep his hands steady enough to resolder the loose connections.

 

The line of Soundwave's mouth was tight with frustration, but it was his symbiote, his right. Soundwave would have to ask for help if he wanted it.

 

Steeljaw was still in recharge, but Eject and Rewind were up, watching Soundwave. Eject half hidden behind his brother, running over to Blaster when he came close, hooking his hands into armor gaps and scaling up to sit on his shoulder. The red mech brought up a hand and patted him before beckoning Rewind and crouching down to pick up Steeljaw.

 

"We'll be outside." Soundwave gave a nod, trying again to weld a small spring in place.

 

Blaster found a place where the sunlight streamed through the trees and sat down, his cassettes settling in his lap easily. Plugging in to them one by one and running defrags, trying to catch any and all errors that he could fix without docking them.

 

Eject leaned against his door, rubbing the glass, vents catching every few klicks as he petted Blaster. Rubbing his face against it in such a longing motion that the red mech’s spark lurched in pain, his free arm coming down to hold the blue cassette close, his other hand pausing in its movements for just the barest moment. “I’m sorry Eject, I really am.”

 

Rewind pulled Blaster’s hand, shoving himself in next to his twin. “We know it isn’t your fault. It’s just hard not being able to dock, and ‘Ject is scared. We’re all scared.”

 

Steeljaw had a paw on Blaster’s thigh, his chin resting next to it as his systems were checked over. “Don’t worry creator, we will persevere.”

 

That coming from Steeljaw was exceptional, considering the shape he was still in. Blaster flared his EM field, encompassing them in the best he could. An electrical hug that spread through every circuit until they all just sat, warm and content enough on the forest floor.

 

When Blaster finally finished their maintenance and stood up, it was close to the end of the solar cycle. If Soundwave could manage it, they would leave that night.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

“Whaddya mean we’re leavin’!”

 

“Rumble: Quiet. Blaster: Please explain.”

 

Blaster heaved out a vent, but there was a smile creeping over his face. “I got a message from the team. They’ll be back in a month, but we have to make the rendezvous or we get left here for good.”

 

Mouths dropped open all around, before Rewind gave a whoop and hugged his brother creations tight. “We’re going HOME!”

 

Even Eject gave a burst of relieved laughter, the infectious enthusiasm making the rounds through the Autobots. Steeljaw sitting, his glossa lolling out of his mouth, tail thumping a sharp staccato against the ground. Soundwave was silent, his cassettes gathering to him in a move that was strangely hesitant for the Decepticon crew. Not at all in character from Blaster’s point of view.

 

“You don’t want to go home?” The question was asked almost disbelievingly, an edge clearly audible in Blaster’s words.

 

Soundwave didn’t flinch, but he drew himself and his cassettes in more tightly. Shielding them with his arms as if that could stop the accusation in the other’s voice. “Soundwave: Would be a prisoner?”

 

The silence that rang through the cave was absolute. There was a stillness, a moment where nothing moved, nothing made a noise. Rumble looking accusingly at Blaster, Buzzsaw still offline and Ravage with her head butted up against Soundave’s chest. They were as silent, as closed off, as any refugee Blaster had ever seen…

 

And he hated it.

 

Rumble’s gaze burned through him. Ravage’s non gaze did the same, because he knew that her oath would keep her steady, but that she was just as invested in his answer. Soundwave’s careful look, his almost expectant expression that told Blaster that he fully believed he already knew the outcome.

 

But at the same time, Blaster couldn’t promise they wouldn’t be. He knew the laws, the rules, of war just as Soundwave did.

 

He just didn’t know if they were still at war.

 

If Soundwave was no longer a part of the Decepticon army, then he was a Neutral or a Rogue. If he was Neutral, it would depend on the situation with the rest of the Autobots. Blaster couldn’t promise anything that he personally couldn’t give, which was next to nothing in terms of physical items. He had some sway, they each did, but with Optimus Prime gone… Blaster wasn’t even sure who the new leader was. If Prowl had survived, if Jazz had survived… So many ‘ifs’, none of which could provide any sort of comforting knowledge.

 

If he went Rogue… well Blaster didn’t really want to kill anyone anymore.

 

Soundwave still had his impossibly calm gaze turned on the red mech, watching, waiting for his answer.

 

“Are you still a Decepticon?” Blaster hated the way his frame tensed as he waited for the answer. Plating clamped tight and battle programs already humming online, watching for any sign that Soundwave was about to attack, or flee.

 

“Ya think we still got anything ta do with those stupid Seekers? Yer just as stupid! We ain’t with them any more than Soundwave’s the Prime!” Rumble was incensed, static hissing through his words, frame hot as he clutched Soundwave’s arm, the one holding him in place on the blue mech’s lap.

 

Rewind’s optics narrowed and he took a step forward. “Watch it mech.”

 

Blaster reached out to stop him when Soundwave spoke. “Soundwave: Not a Decepticon. Soundwave: Unsure as to current affiliation status. Repeated: Would Soundwave be a prisoner.”

 

He wasn’t a Decepticon. Blaster technically had no say in that decision.

 

It was good enough for now.

 

“You aren’t a Decepticon, so far you haven’t attacked us, and I can’t blame you for not wanting to associate with Starscream. I can’t make the decision for the Autobots as a whole, but if we can make it to the rendezvous together, I’ll vouch for you and your crew.” It was a carefully worded response, and Blaster was sure that Soundwave knew it, but hopefully it would be enough. Blaster didn’t want to have to leave anyone to the human’s mercy, not even a former enemy.

 

He watched as Soundwave’s arms tightened just a bit more around his cassettes before he spoke. “Soundwave: Going home.”

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Blaster ran over his short-but-important checklist one more time. Both his and Soundwave’s cassettes had scoured the ground, wiping away any alien trace they could find. There wasn’t much they could do about their pede tracks, not if they were going to make the time needed each day to make the rendezvous, but they made sure that there was no trace of metal they could find that was left behind. Nothing that would help or further human science.

 

The red mech caught as much of the sunlight as he could, moving from patch to patch as they trekked North. Making sure that his solar panels caught as much of it as possible, the less time they had to spend just sitting in the sun the better, and carefully cataloguing the amount of Energon per Joule of sunlight he was capable of making. Energon was an imperative, one they could not afford to let become a crisis. Hopefully, Soundwave was doing the same with his own system, that way they would nearly be assured enough fuel to take them all the way to the rendezvous point.

 

At one point he caught Soundwave moving off with Rumble into a bit of cover, but they returned a few breems later with Rumble licking the last of some Energon from his lips and Soundwave moving a bit more slowly. His optics narrowed, but Ravage had only given him a look and turned away, so Blaster left it alone. Watching from his secondary optical sensors as the blue mech sagged when his back was turned, going into recharge nearly immediately.

 

It was worrisome. He really didn’t know the true extent of their injuries. His own cassettes were beat up, but there was nothing fatal. Nothing that was preventing them from moving forward. Each day as they walked, Soundwave was a fraction slower. His calculations on their estimated time getting closer and closer to being impossible to make it on time, he watched Rumble glitch and stumble, his optics fritzing, mouth opening in silent screams that never seemed to end. He watched Buzzsaw perch on Soundwave’s shoulder, keeping his helm as still as possible, and he knew that the solders Soundwave had been trying to do were weak, holding poorly. He watched Soundwave, every step as slow and deliberate as anything he’d ever done. Trying hard to keep his pain from showing all over his face, and Blaster found that when he thought no one was looking there were always fluid tracks being wiped from his cheek plating. Lips clamped tightly over denta to prevent grimaces and sounds of pain.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Soundwave stumbled, his good leg missing a step, and fell to the ground with a crash. A scream ripping itself from his vocalizer, laced with static, his hands coming up to cradle Buzzsaw’s helm just before impact.

 

Blaster stopped short, all of them coming over and crowding around the fallen mech as he tried and failed to push himself up. The hydraulics in his arms failing, the flat tension cables only partially tightening, freezing halfway and leaving him unable to move up or down as he trembled, fighting the pain of the failed electrical impulses. Buzzsaw moved out of the way, Blaster quickly rolling Soundwave onto his back, pressing his hands to the other mech’s forearms and sending concentrated streams of electricity through them, forcing the muscle-like cables to fully release. The navy mech collapsing out of his convulsions to lay on the ground, venting harshly as he just stared at the sky.

 

“This ain’t good. We have to do some repairs Soundwave, or we ain’t gonna make it.” Blaster rubbed his face, shuttering his optics against the pressure. “We’re already behind, if we don’t make up time somewhere…”

 

They were stuck. Everyone was silent, tense; the only sound coming from Soundwave as he struggled to modulate his vents. Rumble the one who actually spoke up, not looking Blaster in the optics.

 

“Yeah, let’s get it done. Hopefully then we’ll last t’ the end, ‘stead of dying on this pit of a planet.” He trotted over, pulling everything he had in his subspace out and making a small pile on the ground, sorting it out in hopes that something might be useful. Blaster vented. Another day they’d be here.

 

Hopefully it wouldn’t make them be too late.

 

Still, it wasn’t Soundwave’s fault that he was so injured, or that the lack of medical was contributing to them being slow. The mech was clearly doing his best to keep up with Blaster and his crew, and just as clearly was trying to keep himself from showing how much pain he was in. Seized tension cables hurt, Blaster knew, and overloading the electrical circuits that controlled them hurt even more. The red mech wasn’t surprised that Soundwave had yet to try to get up, wouldn’t have been surprised even if he’d had two good legs.

 

“We need to break your leg and splint it. It’ll still hurt, but hopefully less, once that joint isn’t putting pressure on all your wires. Do you know what’s wrong with your cables?” His scans were useless, only telling him that there was a minor Energon leak in Soundwave’s chest. Internal diagnostics were the only thing they had to tell them what was wrong, and Blaster prayed to Primus that Soundwave wasn’t too badly injured.

 

“Soundwave: Understands, leg will need to be broken. Diagnostics: Long, specific cause of incident unknown. In depth scans needed. Duration: 5 breems.” The navy mech was hard to understand, static prevalent though all of his speech, and Blaster had to pay close attention to understand everything.

 

“Alright then. The only way I can put you out is to restrict Energon flow to your processor…” It was said apologetically, neither of them had the medical access codes for each other, not even for themselves. “It’s gonna be painful, but it’s your choice Soundwave.”

 

There was a tense moment, Rumble opening his mouth in a snarl before Ravage’s gaze backed him down. Eject, Rewind and Steeljaw watching their former enemies closely, already waiting for the clash.

 

“Soundwave: Will stay online.”

 

A wince from Blaster, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t expected that. The things he could have done to Soundwave would have been many, fatal, if he’d wanted, and he knew that he wouldn’t have trusted the Decepticon- even a former Decepticon- to do the same either. “Alright.” He turned to the cassettes. “We need a splint. The sturdier the better, and it has to be straight as you can get it. If you can find two…”

 

There were nods and even Soundwave’s cassettes, minus Buzzsaw, took off. Heading in different directions as they looked through the brush, urgency fuelling their movements.

 

“Just… brace yourself mech. This is gonna take some doing.” Blaster kneeled right next to Soundwave with his mini torch out. This wasn’t the first field repair he’d done, but slag if it didn’t cut him up each time. Watching as Soundwave tightened his hands into fists, as his face tightened, expecting pain that he was intentionally about to inflict…

 

It was on an impulse that he reached out and gripped the other mech’s hand for a klick, giving the digits a slight squeeze before lowering the torch and starting to cut away the melted metal over the knee joint.

 

The smell was unpleasant. Melted metal and rubber, ozone and electricity, and it burned against his nasal sensors. The faint wisp of Energon from the torch, the sizzle where it burned through the metal, the faint carbon from the organic matter that was being incinerated, it was all almost overwhelming to Blaster’s sensors. There was a steady stream of static coming from Soundwave, his fists so tight that the metal was beginning to buckle under the pressure, denta clenched and bared and the edges of the broken visor sparking as excess energy cycled through his circuits.

 

When finally he’d cut through as much as his tiny torch could reach, he grasped above and below the joint. “Almost done, here we go…” With a sharp vent he lifted the leg off the ground, pushing the exposed shin strut down, holding the thigh as steady as he could, pressure increasing until his own tension cabling started to strain. The resistance not faltering, not lessening until the weakened mass of metal finally snapped and another scream echoed in the woods. Buzzsaw hunkered down against the echo that came through the carrier bond, his good wing flared just slightly as he kept his head turned to the side.

 

“Alright, done, it’s done.” Blaster quickly put the leg back down, Soundwave turning his head to the side and purging a small amount of Energon into the dirt. Wires sparking where they were frayed, hydraulic fluid pouring from somewhere, soaking the ground even as Blaster hurried to patch the leak.

 

By the time the cassettes came back, Rewind and Eject carrying a log between them, Soundwave’s frame had stopped shaking so badly, only occasional tremors as the waves of pain washed over him. Ravage curled around his helm, her small power plant thrumming in a purr as she rested there, her nasal sensor just touching the side.

 

Rumble sat next to the flyer, his arm stroking along the metal sheets of the good wing, optics locked onto Soundwave as Blaster kept working. Eject and Rewind splitting the log into two pieces, planing it down as best they were able with laser cutters and sharp bits of metal, notching it with grooves to match the facets of Soundwave’s leg. The work was quick, done as fast as it could be while still keeping the integrity of the repair. The split log secured to either side of Soundwave’s leg with pilfered rope, courtesy of Ravage, and within a few terran hours it was done as well as it could be with their meager supplies. All of them settling down to rest, and collect Energon in Blaster’s case, and conserve the power they had for the next day.

 

He lay in the sunlight, all of his conversion panels flared wide, and just thought. On Cybertron, on Soundwave, on the war… on everything. Optimus was gone. GONE. There would be no more encouraging speeches, no more inspirational pep talks, nothing, and for the first time since Blaster had started this Primus forsaken journey he allowed himself to grieve. His anger at Megatron, the Decepticons, Soundwave, the humans all coming back full force. The tide of emotions rising up in him until his fists clenched and he set his denta, baring them in a snarl. War wasn’t fair, had never been fair, but that didn’t make the feelings of hurt and loss and unfairness any less visceral, any less real.

 

His fears for his cassettes should anything happen to him, for Cybertronians now that they were even more few than before, and the rising hopelessness that told him that they wouldn’t make it, that they would be stuck here forever, possibly until they all offlined.

 

He squashed that thought, ruthlessly shoving it away. Once again anger coming back to the forefront of his processor, the focus on Soundwave, if only because he was the nearest target. Blaster KNEW that this wasn’t the former Decepticon’s fault. There was no way that Soundwave could have predicted this, no way he could have prevented it, but thousands of vorn of anger are hard to dismiss.

 

He remembered so many things, each with their own significance. Of interfacing with the same mech that had tried to kill him on so many occasions. Their quiet happiness, for a brief moment in time, where they’d pledged themselves foolishly to each other. Thinking that shared experiences counted for something.

 

Blaster felt his interface protocols come online and cursed Soundwave again, fighting to keep the images of the navy mech above him, beneath him, out of his processor.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

Soundwave pushed himself up, incrementally, venting as the pain lessened with each spike until he was crouched on his good leg, the splinted one outstretched to the side. The pain from his leg itself was considerably less, and that alone was a relief of tremendous proportions. The pain sensors had been deadened, some permanently from the damage, some from his own diagnostics and command. It was a tangled mess of coding errors and reports that Soundwave was loathe to wade through at present.

 

Slowly standing, he looked around. Ravage was curled up against her brother-creations, the three of them so close together that they were laying over each other. A small bit of comfort they could give themselves. Soundwave hadn’t docked them because then they would have felt his pain, and at present the level was much higher than he wanted to inflict upon them. Instead he looked around, not finding Blaster, and moving off to the clearing he knew the Autobot to be in, soaking up the ultra violet rays that the star at the center of this planet’s solar system produced. The Energon would be lowgrade, he knew, but the humans had an adage about beggars that fit the situation more aptly than anything Soundwave could recall.

 

He checked on the status of his self repairs, diverting energy from everything into repairing his Energon conversion system. He was running low, very low, and after feeding his cassettes for the next day’s walk… Soundwave honestly wasn’t sure how long he would be able to keep going. The purge earlier had cost him dearly, almost a whole ration for his cassettes, and now he would have to bleed his lines for their fuel.

 

How long they could keep going like this... was debatable, but he had few options and fewer resources.

 

Soundwave’s leg creaked as he walked, making true silence impossible. The wood rasped against over sensitized neural lines, the ones that still worked, and he could feel where splinters would start wedging themselves between metal bits, but it was functional. No longer the excruciating pain it had been.

 

Blaster was still laid out in the field, and Soundwave carefully made his way over. It was best that he ask without the cassettes present, so that he could barter only with himself, and not allow them to try and intervene like he knew they would. This… Soundwave wasn’t sure it would even happen. There hadn’t been anything between them but anger and resentment on Blaster’s part, and contempt on Soundwave’s for millennia. There was very little he could bring up that would not immediately cause a problem.

 

He pulled up next to the Autobot’s frame and simply looked around. Taking in the organic life around them, relaxing his armor plating just a bit, extending his working solar panels to catch the sun for himself, not for Energon, but as a small reserve that he knew he would need.

 

He observed that Blaster’s face was tight, his hands clenched into fists, the lines of his frame taut and overly straight. Registering the attack klicks before it happened, his solar panels retracting in an effort to keep them as undamaged as possible.

 

"Damn you!"

 

Blaster surged up, his own solar panels sliding into his armor at the same time, and slammed Soundwave to the ground, pressing his body full length against the other deck mech. One hand was flat against the ground, the other holding Soundwave's face for harsh, biting kisses that flashed arousal through his battered systems.

 

The panel that protected his interface cables unlatched and the hinges squeaked as it opened, but he didn't wait for Soundwave to make a move. Just kept pressing down, the slight pain of pressure on his damaged dock door nothing more than a background sting. Something that added to his arousal rather than detracted and through his tumultuous emotions he cried out for the connection of another Cybertronian. The presence of another set of complex systems, the pleasure of intermixing their programming, their coding, their meta.

 

Soundwave was slower to respond, and it should have worried Blaster, but he was too incensed to even begin to take notice of the other deck's lag time. Interface panel unlatching, a blue hand manually opening the door and suddenly their output cables sang through the air to slam into each other's input ports. The electric charge and crackle, a blinding blue flash and their sensor nets inflamed. Each touch on broken and battered armor just this side of pleasurable pain. Each brush of neural lines and protoform invoking a choked cry, a moan.

 

And for all that they were different factions, it didn't matter. Here, now, they were comrades in a war that shouldn't have happened. Brothers in arms against a foe that they had long discounted and discredited for their size, their disposability.

 

They immersed in each other's coding. Snippets of memory dragging in from their processor cores to bombard them with images of the Deck community. Happiness and contentment, then anger, and horror. The replay of their fight swirling between their shared consciousness in a snarled mass of pain and suffering on both sides. Each so sure that their own view was the right one. Each torn that they couldn't get the other to see it HIS way and be safe.

 

Then it was pushed away and Blaster fought against the emotions the memory had brought up. Denta gnashing and snarling, hands becoming more harsh against Soundwave and for the first time since they'd started walking together Blaster felt Soundwave's fear. Heady and poignant and his vents stuttered as he realized he was the cause.

 

A laugh.

 

::About time you were afraid of me Broadcast. About damn time.::

 

Soundwave only stilled, his hands clutching Blaster's forearms. They'd reached the point that Soundwave could no longer fend for himself. To make energon, he would have to stop moving toward the rendezvous point. If he did that, he and his cassettes were stuck here, indefinitely, and that was assuming he could even FIND enough resources to keep them going without being killed by the humans.

 

Not for the first time since joining with Blaster, Soundwave cringed at the thought of being so dependent. The motions of his hands starting again as he fought to show Blaster that he could be useful even if only in this. He would whore himself out if he had to, if only for the safety of his symbiotes.

 

There was nothing more important than them.

 

But Blaster stopped bombarding him with painful emotions. Stopped gripping his damaged plating to the point of warning messages and shook. His body clanking together over Soundwave's and the telepath caught a flash of true want, true need, in between his surges of anger. The desperate desire for a connection that was healing, not just a release of energy, and that in fighting being connected to Soundwave he was in real danger of damaging them both.

 

Slowly, Soundwave stroked. Blaster's arms, his damaged dock door, neck cables and finally face. One hand gently moving over the scuffed and scratched metal, lingering over injuries to smooth his fingers over them. Cataloging each and every one by his touch, moving to inspect the once jagged rift in his helm, Blaster tensing when fingers traced the sides of the patch to relax minutely as they left.

 

Across a broken audio horn, the end pinched and welded to try and keep the delicate components safe, and down cheek plating to rest fingertips on his parted lips. Thumb stroking across the full length before starting again, petting, caressing.

 

Blaster calmed minute by minute into those hands until finally his optics shuttered, focusing on the sensations they evoked. The solid, physical connection that made his arm hydraulics threaten to fail and drop him over the blue cassette mech.

 

A whine, because it felt good and he just couldn't help himself. Autobots were in constant touch, constant connection. It was rare that he went a night without a companion and the habit, the need for another body, the warmth of another set of systems, burned through him like a drug addiction.

 

He craved it. Pressing as far as the connection would let him into both Soundwave's meta and his plating. Elbow joints finally failing and he clanked down on top of the telepath, both of them grunting in pain. Resting his helm on Soundwave's chest, just above his spark and wrapping his arms around whatever was closest.

 

"Damn you anyway."

 

Slowly arousal drained away, his need for connection greater than his want for an overload. The link between them smoothing out as Blaster's processor reached out with comfort, plying them with light, continuous pleasure as their systems synched. Vents coming and going in tandem, sparks pulsing in rhythm until they were. Falling into exhausted recharge even as angry thoughts slipped away from their consciousness.

 

It was near morning before Blaster woke, disconnecting them with a guilty expression. Making sure to spool Soundwave's cable carefully before shutting the panel, wincing at the noise the hinges made.

 

Soundwave watched from behind his visor half, resisting the need to reach out and catch Blaster’s hand.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 4

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

_“We have to get out of here. There’s nothing left, and the bit we have we’re gonna have to fight to keep when everyone else figures that out.” Twincast was rubbing Ripsaw’s head, something for his hands to do while he sat in their cobbled together shelter. “There was an open Comm about a group called the Autobots recruiting; they’re trying to stop the guys that did this. We should join up, see if we can help.”_

_  
_

_Broadcast kept sorting their meager supplies, periodically taking a close look at something before reluctantly setting it into a junk pile. “The mechs who caused this have not come back, and it seems likely that they will not.”_

_  
_

_Twincast vented, his hands coming up in a gesture of exasperation. “You don’t want to get out of here? There isn’t anything left mech! All gone! The only reason we haven’t starved is because we can make Energon, and even that is short term. You KNOW this! What’s left for us if we stay here, besides a slow death?”_

_  
_

_An optical ridge was quirked, but Broadcast just set his mouth in a line, still sorting._

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Blaster didn’t look at Soundwave when he finally limped back to their ‘camp site’. Steadfastly looking away, directing his attention to the symbiotes in his lap.

It wasn’t as hard as it seemed. They were steadily getting worse a tiny bit each day, not being able to dock making their systems run more slowly, more inefficiently. Steeljaw bore the brunt of it and Blaster couldn’t help but worry, his turbocat creation shaking constantly. Circuits shorting, wires fraying, his sensor suite destroyed, and still he tried to purr for Blaster. The rumble broken up, unconnected sounds as he pushed it through his vocalizer.

 

Eject… Whenever Blaster held the minimech he would immediately cuddle up to the broken deck door. Pressing himself as close to safety and familiarity as he could, small, whimpering cries muffled by glass and metal that tore at Blaster’s spark each and every time.

 

Rewind always facing out, always watching the former Decepticons no matter when or where. The only concession he’d made for their truce was to put his blaster back into subspace, though Blaster knew it was only a fingertip away from being fired. The black cassette collecting constant, specific information and data on the others, ready to use it to its fullest at a klicks notice.

 

His spark ached again for Ramhorn and he dipped his helm low to hide his optics. The pain running through them and over the symbiote bond, Eject letting out a keening cry even as Blaster fought to rein in his emotions.

 

They started walking, Soundwave moving much more quickly than before. Though Blaster could still see hands tighten into fists, and the visible mouth set in a hard line, the splint seemed to be holding up. Allowing a swinging motion as Soundwave walked, his good leg bending regularly, the injured one moving in half circle to the side and forward. Setting down with care, before the process repeated, each step a victory for all of them, because it meant getting to the rendezvous on time. They walked in quiet, each both hyper aware of their surroundings and each other. The silence only lasted a short time though, the early morning peace broken by the sound of military jets flying relatively close by. All eight of them scrambling for the small copse of trees they’d been moving towards as quickly as possible.

 

Steeljaw had insisted he could walk, but when they began to run he tripped over his paws. Unable to keep himself steady on his gyros, Blaster just about to scoop him up when Ravage shot over, hardline cable outstretched. He watched as the lion awkwardly shuffled armor aside and accepted her cable, almost instantly catching himself on his legs and matching her stride. Blaster growling even as he veered the other way and scooped up Rewind and Rumble, Soundwave’s cassette clutching his arm, the movement betraying his own fear even as he muttered obscenities and threats towards the humans. Buzzsaw with his good wing half open, trying to keep himself balanced as best as possible through Soundwave’s stuttered, uneven gait.

 

Blaster looked around, scanning for Eject, finally finding him running ahead of them. Frame as low to the ground as he could, sprinting into the trees far in front of any of the rest of them.

 

::Eject! Wait!:: The comm had no effect, he could feel his cassette’s fear pouring through their bond as he ran. Flashes of blue appearing between the trees for microseconds before it was gone, black space once again the only thing visible beyond the forestline. He sped up, running after his cassette, only to have Rumble start hitting his arm. “NO!! Lemme down! I ain’t leavin’ Soundwave!”

 

The red mech cursed, slowing and turning. Eject was more capable of hiding and defending himself right now than Soundwave was, and even as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he owed Soundwave for his behavior the previous night.

 

Soundwave’s limp was tremendously pronounced and Blaster could see that the splint had come apart from the run. The wood slipping, the rope having been too loose to hold it together under stress, and knocking against the leg with every hopping step he took. Ravage and Steeljaw ran next to him and Blaster finally heard the black turbocat make a noise. The high pitched keen full of pain and terror, and he reacted as a carrier first, ready to do anything to help soothe the frightened cassette. Sliding in next to Soundwave, “Arm over my shoulder!” and together the group finally making it to the trees. Making a final push, Blaster nearly hauling Soundwave as well as the three cassettes back a good hundred feet, away from the sparse perimeter.

 

They were all heaving vents, trying to get air into their overheated systems, to get the sludge that they had as coolant to circulate, trying to get circuitry to cool down. The danger of shorting something important very real and very much a worry as they stood with armor plates flared as wide as they could. Every bit of themselves bared to the air that they could, faction lines and concern of attack gone from their processors as they slowly, slowly cooled down.

 

Blaster was the first one up, his limited sensors and scans flying as far as they could in a search for Eject. Each blank pass ratcheting his worry up higher and higher until a touch on his arm brought him back to the present. Looking down to see Rewind and stopping, venting in deeply, running complex algorithms through his processor until he calmed down.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

Soundwave held Buzzsaw and Rumble tight against him, Ravage still tethered to Blaster’s quadruped symbiote. The turbocats keeping watch, their systems designed to run at high speeds more easily, and every so often looking back as if to reassure themselves that everyone had made it safely.

 

He watched Blaster get more and more upset as scans came back with no sign of his blue minimech, Rewind finally going over to intervene before the red mech took off, no matter the cost.

 

His leg burned. The fire that had been at the ends of snapped neural wires now occupying the whole of his leg and part of his pelvic plate, the gray of his pede and lower leg standing out in stark contrast to the rest of him. He bit back a noise of pain as he shifted, frame tensing up again. Forcing his arms to keep from crushing his cassettes through his willpower alone, manually releasing the tension cables with short bursts of electricity and venting in relief as Rumble and Buzzsaw moved to his good hip and huddled close. He eased his good leg up, bending it at the knee and resting his arm and helm on it, trying to find the commands to dull his neural sensors. So focused inwardly that when a hand landed on his shoulder he jerked, knocking his leg and venting in sharply as a fresh wave of pain burst over him.

 

“I’m sorry mech.” Blaster removed his hand. “I’m… I need to go find Eject. I’ll be back before we need to leave again, alright?” Soundwave gave a tight nod and Blaster turned, looking at Steeljaw. The lion made the move to disconnect from Ravage, but he shook his helm. “Nah Steelie, you stay here in case he comes back on his own.”

 

Steeljaw nodded, settling back on his haunches. Rewind sparing a distrustful glance at the Decepticon group before trotting after Blaster.

 

Soundwave just rested there, the pain going down in small increments as he dimmed the sensors individually. As damaged as his systems were, he was having to search down and actually re-code them into thinking that they were at a lower threshold. The sensors responding by allowing less data to come through their links and transmitting less error messages to Soundwave’s HUD. It was a temporary solution, and one that in the long run would cause more damage, but it was the only thing he had available to him at the moment.

 

When the pain finally reached a manageable level he sat back, leaning against a tree trunk. His helm twisted around, compensating for the lost optic and he took in their surroundings. There were trees, thick ones by human standards, and not much else. The mossy dirt was almost comfortable to rest on, and had it not gotten into seams and crevices Soundwave might have enjoyed sitting on it more. As it was, he could feel the organic material pressing into his damaged leg, coating the underside with a layer of dirt and dead organisms, and even some live ones. He shuddered, but could do nothing to stop it except keep still.

 

There wasn’t anything to do, and Soundwave found his thoughts wandering. The edges of his mouth curling up slightly as he remembered his days on Cybertron before they’d had to make such life shattering choices daily.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

Steeljaw sat with his back to the Decepticons, giving them as much privacy as he could. If Eject did come back, he would see Steeljaw anyway, and he could tell that Rumble was uncomfortable with him there period, no matter how damaged he was.

 

The data from Ravage’s sensor net still filtered through the hardline and he took a moment to bask in the feel of seeing again. The black turbocat just looked back at him when he turned her way, optics belying nothing of her emotions. He lay down brushing his nasal sensor against hers. A small thank you for the kindness she had shown him. Her tail flicked once, but she just settled herself more comfortably on the ground. Optics shuttering, but he could feel the rest of her sensors on high alert as she listened and scanned for trouble.

 

His own optics stayed wide and alert. Letting his optical data flow back over their connection, gratitude surging even as he vented a gust of air in relief, their exvents mingling as they continued to lie on the ground.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

Rumble couldn’t keep himself still, finally moving away from Soundwave when a restless arm clanked against the navy torso and a noise of pain escaped him. Muttering an apology and trotting off, out of sight of where everyone rested, going as far as he could and still be in sensor range to his family.

 

He was still running hot, much more so than he should have, and with a groan he unlatched his chestplates just enough to slip his hand inside. The metal of his fingers sliding through the spark energy that whorled there, the miasma parting as his hand slid through it to coalesce again on the other side.

 

“Soon Frenzy, I promise I’ll getcha a body soon as I can.”

 

His other hand slid along transformation seams, dipping down to stroke along neural wires and protoform, everything hot to the touch. The second spark that whirled alongside his own glowing brighter as the feedback was doubled between them. The small frame was barely large enough to take Rumble’s own energy, and adding Frenzy’s meant that there was double the power, double the energy pouring through the already damaged systems. The overcharge riding the cassette, making everything double. The sensation of touch, of pain, of pleasure. Each heightened to an extreme that was only barely manageable.

 

Frenzy’s spark pressed into his touch, eager for the relief that overload brought them both, even if only for a moment. Rumble wiggling his fingers, stroking both sparks at the same time, the feedback loop making him arch against the rock he’d sat against, the metal of his helm scraping along the rough surface. Adding another layer of sensation to his already overtaxed frame, one that was pleasure just shy of pain. The scratches and dents in his digits creating places for spark energy to stream, the energies mingling until his vocalizer locked and he overloaded with a silent scream into the forest. Bright light exploding outward for a klick, his body frozen in bowed position as sparks shot from his seams. Rumble finally collapsing against the rock with an exhausted thunk, giving himself only a moment before he forced himself up to walk back to where Soundwave was sitting.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

Eject sat huddled under the overhang that he’d hidden in. His legs bent at the knee joint and pulled up to his chest, arms wrapped around them and holding them tight. He hadn’t meant to run away from the group, just that when he’d heard those jets…

 

It didn’t matter now anyway. He knew where he was, down to the foot, thanks to the static map that Blaster had databurst everyone, but he didn’t know where anyone else was, and linking up to the internet wasn’t going to happen. Not when he’d just watched the humans kill his brother, had watched as they took down Optimus Prime and Megatron. Blaster had been adamant, don’t link to the internet. There were too many ways that they could be tracked, something that they couldn’t afford to have happen.

 

Stolen tech turned against them. Trust turned against them.

 

Everything turned against them.

 

A keen escaped his mouth, muffled as he pressed it against his arms as tightly as possible. Trying to keep himself from crying out for Blaster, for his brothers. His systems pinging him with the need to shut down, to dock and hardline to his carrier for maintenance and defrag. Processor running klicks more slowly than usual because it needed and Blaster couldn’t. The safety and security of the dock close enough to taste, but not close enough to feel and Eject desperately wanted to feel it again. Wanted to fold himself into his alt mode and feel the security of the snug slot that tucked him into subspace, the only link to the outside world his connection with Blaster. Wanted to relax into the soothing repetition that was maintenance, the hazy state his processor went into while his systems were calibrated and checked. The clarity that came after a defrag, everything sorted and in its place, compressed and neat inside his processor.

 

He tried his comms again, sorting through the static as best he could to push a message out to Blaster and Eject shook, forcing his frame up and out of the bare safety of the overhang. Orienting himself back the way he’d come and creeping off, sensors turned as high as they could go as he fearfully moved back into the woods.

 

It had only been a short amount of time, a few breems at most, when Eject heard movement and talking and he froze. The lack of EM fields, the organic noises that came through the trees shooting terror through him, joints locking up as his systems suddenly refused to obey his processor.

 

‘Run!’ The thought flooded his whole body, but his legs stayed planted to the ground, shaking as he tried to force the hydraulics to fire. Anything to push him forward, out of danger.

 

The noises grew closer and Eject could hear two distinct humans, the deep voice of an older male and the high pitched voice of a younger child, one that was still androgynous in it’s sound. They moved, not bothering to hide their hike, and he trembled. The presence of his blaster sorely missed as his fingers twitched, to fight he would have to be close enough... And hope that he hit them before they hit him.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

Soundwave had to hold his frame tight against the roiling cascade of energy that burst through his link with Rumble. His symbiote’s overload triggering smaller shocks in each of them, charge suddenly exploding through their systems as the sensation of pleasure slithered over their sensor net. Ravage shuddering, electricity arcing over to Steeljaw between their nasal sensors, both of them trembling as pleasure rolled over the link, turning it from simple data transfer into a true partner interface.

 

Buzzsaw spreading his good wing, whole body trembling as he tried to keep his head from jerking back and forth. Clicking his beak as he tried to divert the energy to the tip of his wing, away from his processor.

 

The navy mech vented hard, the charge lighting back up sensors he’d barely just deadened, pain again blooming through his frame hard enough that his fingers slammed to the ground, digging furrows in the soft earth. His vents hissing through clenched denta as the pain grew and grew until it stayed, hot and burning through his leg. The only consolation that the burst of energy finally burnt out the ends of the sensors that fired there, sensation disappearing with a pop as one by one they went dead.

 

At last the extra energy dissipated and they were left panting. Ravage not withdrawing her cable, but sending a short burst of apology down the connection that Steeljaw accepted, sending back his own apology tinged with amusement for the return pulse of pleasure that he’d sent back almost automatically. Each of them resolutely turning their attention back to the forest, scanning and searching for anything that got within sensor range. Buzzsaw slowly transforming, Soundwave carefully picking him up and sliding him into his dock alongside Laserbeak. Ignoring the tingles that still crawled over his sensor net and focusing on Rumble through their link.

 

Something was wrong, it had to be. That much energy, to come through their link like that shouldn’t have even been possible. For it to have affected them meant that Rumble himself must have nearly offlined himself, the energy would have been enough to melt circuits, and yet he felt through their link that Rumble was still conscious, and moving towards them once again.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was near dawn when Blaster finally picked up his lost symbiote on a scan, all of his attention focusing in until he saw nothing else, only the blip blip of Eject’s sparkpulse registering in his processor. Flattening trees and pushing forward with little heed to the damage he was causing to the area, several small animals failing to get out his way and ending up sliced between sliding armor plates.

 

Blaster continuously sending out pings until he got just as frantic ones in return, all pretence of stealth gone in the face of finding his creation. Thundering over the ground until he saw Eject’s blue frame moving toward him, coolant tears slipping down his face, his knee joints failing to hold his weight. “Eject!”

 

The cassette flung himself into Blaster’s arms with a wail, pressing as close as he could and gripping tight. “Oh Eject! It’s alright now, you’re alright.” The deck holding him so closely that metal groaned, but paying no mind to the discomfort. Eject was here, he was alright. That was all that mattered.

 

“He found him Daddy!”

 

A tiny voice cut through Blaster’s happiness like a laser scalpel and he immediately had his blaster out and trained to where the sound had come from.

 

“Here, none of that. We’re just glad the little guy found you, he’d been crying most of the night.”

 

Blaster lowered his arm a fraction of an inch, looking at the humans with distrustful optics. Eject patting his arm, then clambering down to go over to the smaller one and gently hug him. Pulling one of his special autographed baseballs out of subspace and offering it to the little boy.

 

“Thank you.” It was a stiff sounding of gratitude, but Blaster wasn’t about to trust any humans right now.

 

Eject carefully hugged the child, then the father, before clambering up to sit on Blaster’s shoulder and waving.

 

“I didn’t believe him at first when Jonas told me that there was a robot looking for his daddy, but I’m glad you were able to find him. I know I’d be lost if anything happened to my boy,” he ruffled Jonas’ hair and got a beaming smile, “so I’m glad you found yours. I don’t suppose species makes much of a difference where children are involved.”

 

There was a chirr and Blaster gave them a warmer smile, “No, I don’t suppose it does. Thank you again.” He turned to leave and offered a wave of his own. Hurrying in the direction he’d been heading in case they decided to call and report seeing them. Walking nearly a mile before turning back and skirting wide around the humans, keeping his movements as silent as possible through the underbrush. Eject with a firm grasp on his shoulder strut, warm feelings coming across their bond in a constant stream.

 

It was nearly morning, and his Energon level was getting much lower than was comfortable. With the distance they would HAVE to cover, he could tell they would need to cut their rations for everyone to get enough to be at their peak levels. Hopefully Soundwave had been able to do the same, because they couldn’t afford another day without moving.

 

As he reached the small area where he’d left Soundwave, he noticed that only Steeljaw was present. Laying by himself in the dirt, clearly in recharge, with pede tracks all around leading in a singular direction. He stroked Eject’s helm, then set him down next to Steeljaw and took a klick to watch as the blue mini mech snuggled in close to his brother creation. Walking in the direction of the pedes until he spotted Rewind, about to call out when the black cassette motioned him quiet. Beckoning with a soft hand, and for once not looking overly aggressive. That alone told him that whatever was happening, it wasn’t anything nefarious or suspicious.

 

::Laserbeak. Soundwave musta had her docked the whole time.:: He paused, optics showcasing the compassion that Blaster loved, ::I... don’t think she is gonna make it.::

 

Blaster immediately felt a sorrow grip his spark, the hole where Ramhorn had been seeming fresh and raw all over again. He nodded and Rewind trotted off, back to where he’d left Steeljaw, leaving Blaster alone to watch Soundwave through a gap in the foliage.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

Soundwave held Laserbeak in his servos, petting the flyer in gentle motions as the sun rose. Laserbeak had been too damaged from the beginning, he'd known that even when he'd forced her into cassette form and slotted her away, but Soundwave had hoped, had almost fervently hoped, that they'd reach the help before the strain of keeping such damaged systems in stasis wore out the cassette.

 

They hadn't, and when Soundwave had felt the spike of acceptance through their creation bond he'd known there wasn't anything they could do.

 

So he'd carried on. Moving his broken body as best he was able to, sending his love to the stasis locked flyer even though he knew Laserbeak wouldn't really understand the signals. It helped him focus, helped him ignore the pain building in his own spark at the knowledge that he was going to watch another of his creations die on this filthy organic planet.

 

His servos never stopped in their repetitive motions, the pulses from their bond growing weaker and weaker until they stopped. One word glyph coupled with intense love flitting across the connection before it snapped.

 

~Creator...~

 

Soundwave clutched the body tightly to his chest, a keen rising through the early morning. Choked gasps and stuttered vents accompanied the coolant dripping down one side of his face, the jagged and torn metal of what was left of his facemask glittering with moisture as the sun's rays hit it.

 

He didn't move when his remaining symbiotes crowded around him, pressed as close to his plating as they possibly could be. Didn't respond to the noises of the organic world waking up around him. Didn't notice when Blaster slipped away from his hiding spot to leave the grieving family in privacy.

 

He just sat with Laserbeak's grayed out frame clutched to his cassette door; head bent, optics off, and crooned an ancient Cybertronian lullaby to the dead symbiote.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

_  
_

_  
_

_“You can’t be serious mech. Why would you want to join the slag-heads that did this to us? To our home?!” Twincast was on his pedes, an accusing finger pointed at Broadcast’s helm. “Frag. If I hadn’t come along and tripped over you, who knows if you’d even be online right now?!”_

_  
_

_Broadcast drew himself up. “They are the winning side. I can offer my services in exchange for safety and fuel for my symbiotes, what can your Autobots offer you? Lost battles and no safety. Perhaps half rations of fuel? What then?”_

_  
_

_“At least the Autobots ain’t the ones going around and starting the fighting! They’re trying to end it! I refuse to follow the fragger that ruined my home, my life!” There was a heavy silence and Broadcast just looked at him, a myriad of emotions running over his dingy faceplates._

_  
_

_“You are saying that I am a part of this ruined life. I was not aware that you held me in that manner, my apologies.” It was said stiffly, almost monotone, but Twincast could see the hurt that was underlying there._

_  
_

_“That isn’t what I meant and you know it. Our city is gone. My friends are gone, my whole world has narrowed into the thought of survival, of whether or not there will be Energon next cycle. I’m sorry Broadcast; I will not join the Decepticons.”  
_

_  
_

_There was a charged silence between them. Neither looking the other in the optics, their symbiotes huddled together in a pile, watching them argue. Twincast was the first to break, standing and collecting his meager belongings. “Come on guys, we have somewhere to be.”_

_  
_

_A whine from Ripsaw, who sat plating to plating with Rumble, but he reluctantly flew over to settle on Twincast’s shoulder. “Bye…”_

_  
_

_Each of their creations pulled themselves from the pile and moved to their respective deck until they were once again two groups instead of the large family that they’d shared for the past couple decaorn. Twincast not looking back as he moved out into the ruined city, even though a small comm packet zipped over to Broadcast, the data nearly refused out of spite before the link grudgingly opened to allow it through._

_  
_

_Broadcast waited until the other mech was long gone before opening it. His emotions swirling in a dangerously uncontrolled pattern inside his processor as he carefully stored the image capture that one of the cassettes must have taken of him and Twincast when they’d been unaware. Both of them in recharge, nasal sensors just touching, arms and legs tangled together on the ground._

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

They were hardlined together, a common occurrence these days, and Steeljaw basked in the raw data streaming over to him.

 

Ravage filtered it first through her systems, so it was a microsecond off tick, but Steeljaw couldn't have cared less. It was pure heaven to be able to see, in the sense that he had access to the sensor suite data that poured over their connection.

 

He automatically flared his own sensor plates, his mane puffing out impressively, ignoring the fact that Ravage's systems were located elsewhere and that the information didn't quite sync up. Only focusing on the thrum of a hot power plant and the way the data made him feel whole again.

 

Ravage walked placidly along. No emotions trickling through the link, no anything but pure unprocessed data. The temperature of the earth beneath her paws, the direction and speed of the wind, the proximity of each mecha in both her group and his constantly updating and changing.

 

Steeljaw focused on it all. Barely paying attention to what his optical sensors relayed to him. Leaning heavily on Ravage's systems like a crutch. Not noticing when the panther symbiote would guide him over rough terrain, or around an obstacle he should have at least seen for himself.

 

But Blaster did.

 

He watched Steeljaw blindly follow the other quadruped. A worried on his face every time she moved him with a nudge. Every time she would deliberately go out of her way to keep him from misstepping or stumbling. A stolid expression that revealed nothing. Body language blank and infuriating.

 

He watched as Steeljaw shared his Energon, politely offering her the first portion before drinking the rest. Watched as Ravage barely, almost imperceptibly trembled when they stopped to fuel. Her optics deliberately not meeting any of theirs as she carefully drank exactly one third of the Energon, rubbing her head along Steeljaw’s chin in thanks before settling down. Always offering the hardline cable that kept Steeljaw in a decent recharge, his sensors again temporarily fooled into thinking they were online.

 

He had a hand on Eject, the blue mini mech seated on his shoulder, and caught sight of Rewind ahead, the black symbiote scouting for possible threats as well as places Blaster could sit and collect a decent amount of sunlight.

 

Soundwave limped forward, swinging his injured leg in measured steps. Each one carefully placed to minimize pain, though Blaster could see the tightness around his lips, and how much more his limp was pronounced now that it was later in the day. They needed to stop, but at the same time needed to keep going.

 

They were nearly there. That was what kept him going. They were closer with every pedestep, and they could make it.

 

They would make it. He refused to accept the alternative.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

Soundwave stumbled, a cry escaping him, and crashed to the ground. Trying and failing to stand, his hydraulics buzzing as they tried and failed to pressurize, finally just laying where he’d fallen. Face down in the dirt, not even responding to Rumble’s frantic questions. Blaster coming over and rolling him onto his back to find that his visor was so dim it was nearly offline, the hum of his systems a barely audible noise.

 

“Soundwave!” Rumble kept shaking the navy mech, pushing aside Ravage when the turbocat tried to herd him away. “NO you fragger! Ya ain’t pushing me away from him again!”

 

Blaster’s scans told him nothing. There was no further injury that he could find, nothing that told him why Soundwave was still on the ground. He watched as Rumble shoved Ravage hard, the quadruped baring her teeth in a snarl that was ignored. Rumble pulling out what Blaster realized was an Energon transfer line, and a well used one at that.

 

“What are you doing!” Rumble didn’t even look up, concentrating on Soundwave as he pushed the dirty needle into their energon tubing, ignoring the medical valves on their arms and shoving it directly into the line that led from powerplant to processor, where the most consistent stream of energon could be found. “Rumble! What are you doing!”

 

Blaster was on his knees beside them. “He ain’t got any Energon! He’s gonna go into stasis an’ then we’re gonna die here!”

 

His own transfer line and pushed it into his arm, the other end barely fitting beside Rumble’s in the main tubing. Grunting as Energon flowed out from him into the other mech. “Wasn’t he making any?”

 

“No! I just know that he gave me some every day outta his lines, and Goldie over there was sharin’ with Ravage. He prolly fed Buzzsaw too, and didn’ have any left over for himself!” The notes of panic in Rumble’s voice were obvious, and Blaster wondered how he hadn’t noticed Soundwave getting slower and slower. He had carefully kept himself away from the former Decepticons, because losing control like he had was unacceptable, and he couldn’t do it again.

 

The fear that this brought up. The shame at feeling pleasure in Soundwave’s pain, the burning need he had to go back to how things were, all of that was present. He craved the contact, the physicallity of it, but more that that he craved the brush of an unfamiliar-yet-familiar meta against his own. The wonderment and comfort of touching coding with Soundwave, with BROADCAST, because he’d never forgotten. Never.

 

Slowly. Slowly, he heard systems reset and boot up and he gave in. Lowering his helm to just touch the navy one, a hand coming up to stroke along the more uninjured side of his face. A point of light as the remaining optic lit up, disappearing into red as the visor did the same. Everything moving in slow motion as Soundwave felt himself reboot. Leaning into the touch because it was meant to comfort, and he let himself take what was offered.

 

“You idiot. You absolute, utter idiot.”

 

Rumble had pulled out his line and wobbled over to sit beside Blaster’s twins. Too low on energy to care that he was next to them, even when Rewind grudgingly unsubspaced a tiny amount of energon and literally poured it into Rumble’s mouth.

 

“Soundwave: KksssshhhtI-rry. Miscalculat-kssht.”

 

Blaster just settled himself a little more fully against the navy mech, his solar panels extending to catch whatever they could, and stayed there. Hand moving gently over damaged plating, just remembering and comparing. He’d lost too many people he cared about, and this hit too close to home for him to pretend indifference.

 

“Why did you choose Megatron? Wasn’t what we had worth anything?” The question was desperate almost, long tempered emotions coming to the forefront. Soundwave’s systems were still acting slow, but he forced his arm to raise, his hand to brush over whatever of Blaster was closest. Talking in a slow, deliberate way to mitigate the static that streamed through his vocalizer.

 

“Blaster: Family. Family: Everything. Soundwave: Choose the side that would protect his family.”

 

It was too succinct for all the reasons he had, but it was true nonetheless. His vocalizer was so maddingly insufficient for explaining anything right now, so limited in what it could express at once, and it bothered Soundwave now more than ever.

 

“Soundwave: Wishes things had been different.”

 

The cassettes were silent, each of them watching carefully, each of them remembering before.

 

“Do you think we can try this again?”

 

The kiss that Soundwave strained to put on Blaster’s lips gave him his answer, and for now, it was enough.

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

 

“Move!”

 

Blaster had his arm under Soundwave’s shoulder and they were running, crossing the terrain now at a frantic pace. Uncaring as to whether they were being followed, or if they could be seen. They were down to the wire, and so close to the rendezvous that they caught the displacement of atmosphere well before the Omega Supreme came into view. Reaching the clearing and collapsing, laughing as they were greeted with hugs from those few already there.

 

When Omega Supreme came into view, a wave of excitement went through them. Each gripping some part of whoever was next to them in an attempt to convey not only their happiness, but relief that they'd made it on time.

 

Because some... hadn't.

 

Blaster found out that Astoria had been hiding Grapple and Huffer, and the government had eliminated her as for 'aiding terrorists'. Sniped one day as she was out to do press conferences on behalf of the Autobots, the Witwicky family disappearing soon after, though it was thought that they'd gone into hiding rather than been taken out.

 

Raoul had been killed, and Blaster had been grieved to find out that Tracks had as well. The Corvette had tried to sneak back to get the teen, and they'd both fallen in a hail of machine gun fire as he flew frantically through New York City.

 

Names of mechs, and their human allies, stacked up. A list far longer than anyone would like, and they took a moment of silence. Sending their thoughts and prayers to Primus that no one would be left behind alive, because capture or vorns of loneliness was much worse, and no one wished that on ANY Cybertronian.

 

When Omega Supreme finally touched down it was to a murmur that rippled through the 12 of them. Bluestreak's hands flying through a series of signs that only Prowl seemed to understand, the black and white's one remaining doorwing pulled up and high in excited response.

 

They wasted no time in piling in, the time from landing to take off less than a breem, and Blaster leaned against Soundwave. Relaxing a bit, and taking his time in looking at the others that had made it.

 

Out of the sixteen they'd known were on Earth, twelve had made it. Blaster and Soundwave's group by far the largest.

 

Bluestreak had lost his lower jaw and vocalizer to rust, though that clearly hadn't deterred his normal verbose self from finding a way to communicate, as well as his entire lower half. Legs just gone from the hip sockets, with only neatly sealed and gathered wires and cables to show that he'd had legs at all. Moving around on his hands between bouts of whatever he happened to be saying.

 

Prowl had lost a doorwing, but otherwise seemed in fairly good repair, which Blaster supposed is how Bluestreak was able to make it as well. Watching as Prowl would let his touches linger over Bluestreak's plating, optics soft, it was clear that the journey had done for them at least some of what it had done for he and Soundwave as well.

 

Bumblebee sat huddled in a corner, face turned in to his knees. Of all of the Autobots, he perhaps had been hit hardest. Both from the loss of the Witwickies, and Optimus Prime. He was the kind who cared with all his spark, and in this it was something that seemed to have broken him. He alone hadn't spoken, and had turned distant and glazed optics away when Blaster had tried to offer comfort.

 

Soundwave felt him shift and focused on Bumblebee, a hand resting briefly on his own. "Time: Needed to heal all wounds. Some: Not physical." A nod, and he again relaxed back into the navy mech, shifting Eject in his arms.

 

The last of their ragtag group was Beachcomber, probably the most fit of any of them to be stranded somewhere. He'd been the first to make it to the Artic Circle, and had been the most at ease, if a bit more subdued than normal.

 

Finally, them. Their large, noisy, boisterous group. Ravage and Steeljaw were draped over each other, Steeljaw still hardlined into Ravage's systems, Rumble was sitting at Soundwave's pedes. Optics darting to each Autobot in turn, talking to himself and leaning back against the good leg in a show of relaxation. Still distrusting of anyone, not that Blaster could blame him, but trying hard to keep it on the down low for Soundwave's sake. Rewind setting on a chair by himself, optics bright but clear as he listened and recorded the conversations going on all around them. Eject was cuddled up to his deck door, and not for the first time Blaster wished he could dock them, even for a short period of time.

 

"Soon."

 

Blaster snorted. "How is it that even without your telepathy you can tell what I'm thinking? That ain't fair man, we're gonna have to change the status quo back home."

 

A laugh, littered with static as the vocalizer glitched. "Blaster: Easy to read."

 

He gave Soundwave a light shove, but didn't respond.

 

There would be time after they got home, after they got repaired, after they got settled.

 

And not for the first time Blaster since the battle on them from the humans, he turned his thoughts to Optimus Prime. Thanking him for being a leader he could believe in, and for making sure that every bot under his command knew how he felt about freedom and justice.

_  
_

_"Even in the face of adversity we should always remember that one being can be the shift in balance. That one, solitary life can change you in ways you never thought possible, in ways you never believed._

_I fight this war because I believe that each and every one of you matters. Each and every one of you is someone I am proud to know, proud to stand by, because each of you has the same opportunity, the same power, to turn our fight around._

_Believe in this. Believe in me. Together, there is no bridge we cannot cross, no mountain we cannot climb over. We are the few, certainly, but never the forgotten. If I have to fight with my last breath to make that known, I will. Because I believe._

_I believe."_

 

Blaster shuttered his optics.

 

"I believe."

 

Beside him Soundwave repeated him, the phrase working its way around the cabin until it echoed, each pass giving the phrase more power, more volume, Omega Supreme's deep voice rumbling from within the ship. Heavy, space capable engines thrumming with power as they headed home, to rebuild, because even though they knew that the war wasn't over, Starscream still roamed free with the remaining Decepticons, they also knew that they had the tools they needed to restart. Sad though it came from the death of so many, in needless violence and bigotry.

 

"I believe."

Art - http://vesryn.livejournal.com/6532.html


End file.
